# Sign-in and access problems

Troubleshooting and FAQ

Access in GrandNode is decided by the customer account, its groups and the permissions of those groups. Most sign-in problems are one of the cases below.

### "The account is locked"

After too many wrong passwords the account is locked for the time set in **Customer settings → Security** (**Maximum login failures**, **Lockout time**). Wait for the lockout to pass, or have an administrator set a new password on the customer's page.

### Forgotten password

- Customers use **Forgot password?** on the sign-in page; the link is valid for the days set in the security settings.
- The admin, store owner and vendor panels have their own sign-in pages (`/admin/login`, `/store/login`, `/vendor/login`) with password recovery too.
- Recovery needs working e-mail. If e-mail does not work, another administrator can set a new password on the customer's page.

### Staff cannot see a menu or screen

Menu items are shown only with the matching permission. Check the person's customer groups and the [permission matrix](https://grandnode.com/system-permissions); a user gets the sum of their groups' permissions. Remember they must also be in a group with **Access Admin Panel**.

### A store manager cannot open the store owner panel

- The account must be in the **Store manager** group *and* have a **staff store** set on the customer page.
- Screens such as Payment methods or Customers appear only when the administrator grants those permissions to the Store manager group. See [Giving someone access to the store owner panel](https://grandnode.com/store-panel-access).

### A vendor cannot open the vendor panel

- The account must have the **Vendor** field set and be in the **Vendors** group.
- The vendor itself must be **active** - new applications from the storefront are inactive until approved. See [Creating and approving vendors](https://grandnode.com/vendor-panel-create-and-approve-vendors).

### Everyone is signed out after each restart

The keys that protect sign-in cookies are not persisted. In Docker and on web farms set `Security:KeyPersistenceLocation` to a persistent path, or keep the keys in Redis (`Redis:PersistKeysToRedis`). See [Application settings](https://grandnode.com/system-appsettings).

### Related

- [Registration, login and privacy](https://grandnode.com/customers-registration-login-and-privacy)
- [Customer groups](https://grandnode.com/customers-customer-groups)

- [Web page](https://grandnode.com/troubleshooting-sign-in-access)